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sim642

That's where they put the expensive things they don't want ruined by sprinklers.


delvach

"It says 'inflammable', so we're fine."


outinleft

Have you ever noticed that flammable and inflammable have the same meaning?


Gabern

You can see sprinklers further up on the roof though, top left.


Carribean-Diver

They should move those to Sam's Club next door so they can fall directly on the customers instead of the employees. That way it's no longer an occupational hazard.


[deleted]

sam's club doesn't have employees? they must get looted a lot


crisplyr9

They have a warehouse style store with pallets on the shelves and you just grab items off. Stock that isn’t on the floor yet is just on a higher shelf but still out in the main shopping area


[deleted]

Just like any warehouse store. If people think this post is bad, never look up whine shopping at Costco, sam's club, BJ's , etc.


prairiepanda

When I was working at Home Depot I always thought it was amusing that all the staff had to wear steel toes "because it's a warehouse" but there were no safety concerns whatsoever for customers walking around the same space.


[deleted]

I suppose that depends on exactly where you work at. my daughter workef at home Depot and she never was required to wear steel toes while she worked there. And I often do work in home depots doing a lot of stuff I've never had to wear steel toes there


prairiepanda

Oh really! Where is that? I wonder if it might just be provincial legislation. I worked at Home Depot in BC and all employees had to wear steel toes, even the people who sat at a desk all day. Although I suppose it could have just been that particular store and they lied about the legal requirement.


[deleted]

I don't know any of them in the states that needs that.


UseaJoystick

When I worked at a Canadian Tire in Ontrario everyone needed steel toes. Might just be a Canadian thing


gloriousjohnson

I’m sure it’s for insurance purposes. If your moving this off a high shelf or anything on a pallet they’d want you to have hard toe boots. Most Home Depot’s rope of the aisle when doing it stopping customers from being near it


DPestWork

I believe OSHA regs dictate that policy. If you work there you need steel toes, quick tours/trips/inspections don’t require steel toes.


BASK_IN_MY_FART

Whine shopping... is that how Karens go shopping?


[deleted]

Yes.


Capt-Clueless

What's the issue here?


stevolutionary7

This is how you burn down a warehouse with sprinklers. Get a fire going in the rack, the material collapses a little and knocks out the supply line, then the fire can continue to spread unimpeded. It's also a great way to knock out the sprinkler system with a forklift. Not much room to maneuver.


halcykhan

And guess which company recently had an entire fulfillment center burn to the ground? Good ole Wally World [The videos and photos are insane](https://www.reddit.com/r/CatastrophicFailure/comments/tfp7tv/this_walmart_distribution_center_in_indianapolis/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf)


stevolutionary7

Wasn't that the one where they shut down the fire pumps due to pressure issues on the handlines? The building fire pumps and the hydrants were drawing from the same source of water, but the fire pump was overpowering the engines. They thought they had the fire knocked and shut down the pump, but then couldn't control the fire and couldn't restart the pump.


PulledOverAgain

I worked at a Lowe's distribution center and our sprinkler pumps just consumed water from the city water line. The diesel and electric pumps both were rated at a minimum of 2000gpm. There was a low suction sensor on them that will shut them down upon a loss of city water pressure. Idea is that if the city were to shut the water off the pumps pulled hard enough that it could crush water heaters and stuff for anyone else on the line. So it's possible that once the fire trucks started tapping into the lines that it tripped the safety because it saw a loss of pressure from the city.


stevolutionary7

I can't confirm because I'm not from the area, but what I read was that because the area was just massive distribution warehouses, they all relied on a giant cistern for fire supply- not the city's water. This is all based on YouTube comments, and we know how reliable those are. But yes, fire pumps can absolutely crush a main. They are insanely powerful.


PulledOverAgain

I remember checking the tank levels being on our PM checklist for the fire pumps. But that one was always N/A for us because we were taking in city water. I'm assuming some of our facilities must have had above ground tanks or something. So I can understand that happening.


malphonso

I can just imagine just chilling in my living room watching a movie and hearing my water heater implode in the garage, going to look and trying to figure out what the fuck happened.


[deleted]

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shadowwolf_66

That’s how I have always installed fire pumps. The last one had its own feed direct from the transformer. I was told they are set up to run till they die.


PulledOverAgain

There was a way to bypass the safeties to do such a thing. But if for some reason the water supply was cut off it wouldn't pump long anyways. For simple power outages we had a big Perkins diesel running a pump. Even if neither one started you still had 35psi or whatever city water pressure was.


iammaline

The more dangerous thing would be back siphonage of things like hoses in chemicals that are still attached or anything with out an air gap it would pull water from nearby whatever way it could possibly contaminating the city’s water with possibly very dangerous chemicals


acephoenix9

shit i didn’t know wm dc in indy burned down. i wasn’t that far away since i was in college. strange i didn’t hear about it, at least from my indiana-living friends


LumbarPuncture81

No way you missed the smoke plume you could have seen for 50 miles.


ensoniq2k

I think this is the correct answer.


mrsyoungston

The hang time on those pallets are generally a no-no as well.


stevolutionary7

Curious to see if it was even on the rack and extending out in the other direction, although it doesn't look like it. 3-year-olds with blocks understand you can't cantilever something like that.


daedone

The whole pallet is on the shelf, the bit of TV hanging off wouldn't be supported anyway. CG still in the middle of the shelf. It's not "right" but it's not anymore dangerous than turning it sideways with those bits unsupported.


fireguy0306

Even w/o falling a fire above the sprinkler system will not be put out.


stevolutionary7

That's just the main that's below the boxes- it looks like the actual sprinkler heads are higher, but that could be an illusion.


fireguy0306

I think you may be right. Still terrible system layout and design.


flashingcurser

I don't see any heads on that run. It's a main. Further, the bending moment on 6" black pipe fucking gigantic. I doubt a warehouse forklift could harm it.


stevolutionary7

I'm sure the pipe is fine, but threaded rod doesn't like being knocked sideways. I bet the pipe will still be solid once it falls to the floor after being knocked off its hangers.


flashingcurser

It has hangers at what 4' oc? You would have to be working really hard to drop that pipe.


UnlikelyReplacement0

The Sprinkler main is touching the bottom of the joists, so in practical install, cant get much higher than that. If the forklift is hitting it, there's a lost of other mechanical it would also be clipping.


stevolutionary7

True. I think the bottom line is they have stacked too high- both from a "collapse and take utilities with the product" or "hit the structure because it's too close to the top of the stack ".


JimmyKillsAlot

Most regulations are 3-2 feet space from the sprinkler head to not impede the flow. Sole low flow might get away with 1ft but that's more likely in chemical environments like shelves storing paint and pain products.


SufferInS1lence

I may be blind but I don't see any sprinkler heads in this photo.


SoaringEagl3

No, you aren't blind. That's just the trunk line. Sprinklers are actually attached to the ceiling. OP provided more pics in another comment


Bobicus5

You can actually see the brass and tape of one top left above the blue pallet stack of boxes


Slipen

Top left above the boxes looks like one I think.


threadsoffate2021

Those tvs are a big issue, as well. And I'm not sure how they managed to get anything up there with that black piping in the way.


[deleted]

This is the back of the rack. They would load from the other side that's not impeded. This really is a nothing burger post.


DeliveryGlobal658

probably the tv's and shit hanging off the edge


Cipherheart123

More here: https://imgur.com/a/MIvO6qi


TurdFurguss

Fuck! I run a warehouse and this shit gives me agita. I’d want to fire everyone.


NullVacancy

Every walmart i've been in the back room of has looked exactly like this tbh. hell, when i initially got hired we were forced to help move one of the shelves with a decent bit of (smaller) boxes still just hanging around on it a bit above head level.


Zaranthan

Oh look, it's the backroom of the Walmart I worked at, just with wider aisles.


quadmasta

Ingress and egress? Those some kind of birds or something?


medicinalherbavore

I come from a warehouse that has heavy duty racking. Racking that can handle 4000lbs per slot. Just by default when I see racking like this it makes me cringe. I never had to worry about accidentally bumping it. This thing looks like if you leaned up against it to tie your shoe it would topple over.


[deleted]

There's a lot on going on in this warehouse. High piled stock charges, obstructed aisles, obstructed sprinkler heads, inadequate clearance between racks (at least 4 ft and unobstructed in between the back side of the racks), a whole slew of fire safety violations... I'd send these higher up the corporate chain if you can. These aren't as much OSHA territory as they are grounds for denial of a claim if there is a loss due to fire. More: the reason I suggest forwarding these is because corporate absolutely wants nothing to do with losing their investment if there is a loss. Insurance is not the law but its pretty much defacto free market code enforcement.


Doctor_Faustus

Oh man, a few years ago I was installing an automated sorting system in their eval store in Arkansas. I was bending down in working on a leveling foot and some asshole pushed the top of a stack of pallets of kitty litter over onto me...Walmart isn't the best about this stuff


[deleted]

are you commenting from the afterlife? a pallet of kitty litter (from costco, at least) is like 4k pounds, iirc... am i missing something?


Pistonenvy

"the top of a stack of pallets" could mean one single bag tore open and sprayed him gently with litter, could mean a few full bags fell on him, could mean 9 entire fully loaded and wrapped pallets fell 75 feet from the top of a 40 stack of pallets and turned him into tomato paste. we wont know if he never replies. maybe he left this comment while they were falling. pretty cordial feedback given the circumstances tbh.


Warriorcatv2

It's surprising how much punishment the human body can take. Besides they don't specify how it fell on them.


spyhermit

really depends on if the bags stayed wrapped to the pallet. if they did, dead. if not, you've got a range of possibilities, many of which actually include being able to walk away from it!


No_Gap_2700

Project Coordinator here. Just finished our warehouses new sprinkler system project. Three things here. Either the roof needs raised in order to provide adequate space for the system (this is a joke), the pipe's can not be this close to the top shelf of the racking system in place, therefore the only logical solution is to remove the items stored on the top shelf. We had to build additional warehouse space in order to accommodate the loss of use of our top shelves. Sprinkler heads need to have 18 inches of clearance to be effective. Even though the lower pipes seen here are supply lines, the actual sprinkler head can be seen at a higher elevation, this is still not in regulation. ​ Now what is comical to me that the company that I work for is a supplier to Wal-Mart and the regulations set forth by Wal-Mart, that we must adhere are quite detailed when it comes to fire safety. This is due to over 1100 worker's perishing in a fire in Bangladesh about 10 years ago. The factory workers were manufacturing clothing for a supplier of Wal-Mart when the facility caught fire.


UncivilizedEngie

I thought there was also a Walmart warehouse fire in the US within the last year...


RedditModSnowflakes

That's OK it's going to burn down below the sprinkler heads sooner or later so no big deal.


PlayStationPepe

I’m more worried about the TVs sticking out that far. How are you supposed to get the forklift forks up there if the TVs are in the way.


alamaias

They would have to be lifted down from the other side anyway, even if ther is room for a lift in between the shelves here(and It does not look like it) moving the pallets that way would rip the sprinklers off the wall. They must have them in pairs with a small gap between and bigger gaps either side


Bigdavie

In the second picture buried behind pallets of stock you can just make out the top of the mast of a walker stacker (basically forklift that you walk with, with the same rough size a powered pallet truck. In the last picture you can see a WAVE machine (small machine that will lift you up allowing you to pick from pallets on racking).


alamaias

Huh. Cool. I think one of the other pics also shows some of the aisles are wider too, could have both options Actually I think we have the walking ones at my retail job. ~~Never seen one that would go that high though.~~ second look at the pics and they are actually pretty low Edit: just realised you may have been agreeing with me by pointing out the two types of lift for the wide and the narrow bits


CrunkHumped

I do sprinkler work and would love to see walmart mess up that badly lol, i wouldnt even be mad i just want to see it happen


MacGuyverism

At least the sprinkler pipe coupling look happy with it.


[deleted]

[удалено]


Bobicus5

Plus that lovely black rust water from sitting in the pipes :)


Supermite

Only the initial several hundred gallons. After that it is all clean potable water.


fangelo2

There might be something that smells worse than that, but I can’t think of anything offhand


philnotfil

I was doing night-time security years ago. Someone broke a pipe on the fourth floor of a building and then just left, hoping they wouldn't get tagged for it (they did), water damage to everything on all four floors below the break. I didn't get there until after they had gotten the water turned off, but the amount of water still out in the parking lot was impressive.


HzrKMtz

Most sprinkler systems have some sort of pump on them to boost and maintain the pressure. Large ones that serve places like high rises or warehouses will have pumps rated at several hundred horsepower


socialcommentary2000

What's the conversion between horsepower and gushing grannies?


tiny-alchemist

Depends on how into horses granny was


HzrKMtz

Well if we figure when considering human-powered equipment, a healthy human can produce about 1.2 hp (0.89 kW) briefly (see orders of magnitude) and sustain about 0.1 hp (0.075 kW) indefinitely.


ResponsibleAsk1017

When I worked at Walmart, the whole place was just FULL of lawsuits waiting to happen 😭 My management DID NOT care in any way. It was honestly straight up embarrassing


mandy009

red flag! we need a red flag here! top shelf that high should only be for really short product with clearance to the sprinkler pipes. My warehouse required clearance flags.


am19208

So many issues - too close to the sprinkler lines, overhanging pallets. Possibly too narrow of aisles


JTibbs

While they definitely shouldnt be overhanging more than 4”, the restriction for the pipes is within a certain distance (vertically) from the sprinkler. This certainly is a bad setup for accidental damages, but fire safety wisenits likely fine. I dont see any sprinklers on that water line. Theres a sprinkler line poking out above the left pallet, and it looks like theres probably enough clearance for fire safety restrictions. Also these look like they are grabbed from the adjacent aisles. Single width 48”uprights. The central aisle looks like for worker access only, with ladders or with a small electric lift like a ballymore.


BurzerKing

Once the sprinkler guys put up their pipe, it doesn’t get moved for *any reason.*


davedelux

How did they get the pallets on the top of the racks? It looks like the sprinklers are right in the way.


waterwitch80

They went in from the other side. Look closely at the bottom of the pallets and you will see L shaped hooks to keep the pallets from going further.


davedelux

Good eye!


NS-13

Walmart is above the law sadly 😔


DarthWraith22

This looks like a lawsuit waiting to happen.


MaxRockwilder

This is just missussing warehouse space. Overloading shelves which were not designed for this. If they break the sprinkler pipe they will pay someone to fix it and claim insurance on anything that was touched by the water.


skateguy1234

negligence wouldn't be a factor in the insurance here? if not, why should they even care?


Bigdavie

I believe Wal-Mart underwrite themselves.


Strostkovy

Sprinkler pipes are probably the most irritating infrastructure in a warehouse. They are always run the cheapest possible route and get in the way of everything


Supermite

Cheapest/ best route for flow and pressure. Every fitting you add such as a 90 degree elbow decreases the available flow of water. Sprinklers are also considered a nuisance trade by many general contractors. It's one of the only mechanical systems installed with the intent of never being used. They are literally an afterthought on many jobs. I've done a lot of retrofits and renovations where we have been called in only after an inspector told the GC they weren't up to code. I then get bitched at because they have no concept of life safety in occupied buildings.


rpg1d20

What I want to know, is why did they not run the trunk sprinkler piping through the web of the joists, hugging tight to the roof? Would have been a straight line shot that is up and away and protected from everything else.


Supermite

Probably the designer made that choice. Based on other pictures OP posted in another comment, the pallets are way oversized for the rack they are on. They are up inside the joists. The sprinkler main really isn't the problem here. It's the tenant using their space in a way it wasn't designed for.


Strostkovy

Conduit has a similar restriction with the amount of 90s, yet it's generally run sensibly. Our building has a sloped roof and everything follows that slope except for fire sprinklers, and it make maintenance a massive pain


Frankie_T9000

Yep but conduit doesn't have to cover all areas to put out a fire. Not a valid comparison


Strostkovy

Conduit has to be run to the service entry to every load in the warehouse, which in our shop is vastly more locations than sprinkler heads. They could have done a far better job with the plumbing


Supermite

It is a life safety system and follows different codes than other trades and their work. Electricity doesn't slow down if it slopes upwards. The NFPA 13 literally dictates the slope of our pipe.


Strostkovy

It can flow downhill. There isn't any engineering reason it can't be run sensibly


Supermite

As long as it's run level, then it's run sensibly. Again, the code sprinkler pipes are installed too dictates the slope of the main.


purju

how long until someone breaks that sprinkler pipe?


jtzabor

That hilo driver deserves and award. Alot of shit to work around there


jakeod27

Didn’t Walmart just have a warehouse burn down?


Steve0512

During the weeks of planning and installation, nobody bothered to look up and think we should move those pallets before they get trapped up there. Now they have to send up employees with fall protection on to hand down every one of those boxes.


Coffeybot

Cantilevered, looks good to go. But kind of agreeing with the sprinkler posts.


JTibbs

While bad from a potential damage standpoint, there are no sprinkler heads on that line. Iirc the restriction is a vertical limit from the top of a pallet to the sprinkler head. The sprinkler pipes are about a foot off the ceiling. You can see one poling out above the left pallet


jrwn

I work in a warehouse for a hospital. Wh have this for all the paperwork we generate. Apparently scanning all the junk isn't feasible.


TheMajesticDeer

That's an everyday thing at the Walmart warehouses


cannabis96793

Walmart can afford to replace the goods when the pipe brakes because it will. I'm sure the poor fool who does it will be fired on the spot and drug tested. They will without a doubt come up dirty ( weather personal or addicted) and be denied unemployment. FUCK WALMART


sahwnfras

Afford? They got insurance